Frankie's Knitted Stuff
This pattern evolved from my Diamond Star pattern when I tried to make the star using thicker yarn. Instead of getting a neat geometric shape I ended up with a twisted ball which I thought would make a very tactile baby toy. Having said that, I keep playing with mine so maybe it's not just for babies. The toy pictured above was knitted with DK weight yarn on 3.25 mm / US size 3 needles to a tension of about 6 stitches to the inch. I used twelve shades of Stylecraft Special DK (295 m / 100 g) but you could use other yarns. You will also need one smaller needle, size 2.75 mm / US size 2. The Accidental Toy is made up of twelve garter stitch squares, each with a fold across the middle (that's what the smaller needle is for).
Knitting a Square
Cast on 1 stitch and knit into the front and back of it (2 sts). Next row: Kf&b, K to end (3sts). Next two rows: Knit. Next row: Kf7b, K to end. Repeat this row until you have 21 stitches on your needle. Now change to the 2.75 mm needle and purl one row for the fold. The smaller needle stops it stretching sideways; this is important so don't be tempted not to change needles. Change back to the 3.25 mm needles for the rest of the square. Next row: K to last 2 sts, K2tog. Repeat this row until you are down to three stitches. Cast off with the double decrease cast off: sl 1 kwise, K2tog, psso and fasten off. That's one square finished. Now you just have to knit eleven more.
The Sewing
First arrange four squares so that the purl folds make a cross.
The right side is the side with the purl row of the fold facing. Holding the right sides together, oversew the squares together to make one big square. Do the same with four more little squares so you now have two big squares and four little squares. Now lay out the four small squares round one big square as shown.
The corners of the small square should point to the middle of the big square's side and the folds should run parallel to it. With the right sides facing, work round the big square oversewing the small squares in place. It may help to know that the folds on the small squares will line up at the corners of the big square. As you sew, the small squares will pull the big square into shape. Pinch the folds together and this is what you should get ...
Now you have to join the remaining big square to this shape. Again, the small squares should point to the middle of the sides on the big square. Oversew the two pieces together, this time with the right sides facing but stop before the last short side and turn the whole thing the right way out. Finish the last seam from the right side using mattress stitch. You will now have a shapeless ball. Work round the ball, pinching and pulling the folds and a geometric shape will appear. To make this shape twist into a ball the inner points have to be joined together. If you look at the shape from above one of the points where four folds meet, you will see four of these inner points on the top half of the shape. There are another four on the bottom half. Join a length of yarn to one of these top inner points, right in the middle. Then put your needle right through the shape and come out in the middle of the opposite inner point on the bottom of the shape. Bring the needle back through the shape to your starting place and then through to the next inner point on the top and repeat the process. You will join all four sets of inner points in this way. If you get lost, a gentle pull on any of the inner points will show which ones haven't been sewn down yet. As you work the ball will start to twist until you end up with this ... The finished toy measures about 10 cm (4") across but you can make different size balls by varying the size of the small squares.
For the small pink one I stopped increasing at 11 stitches and for the blue one at 15 stitches. They measure about 5 cm and 8 cm across respectively (2 and 3"). I also tried knitting one of these balls with aran weight yarn. I used 21st Century Yarn's aran yarn (18 5m / 100 g) and 4 mm needles, with a 3.25 mm needle for the folds (US sizes 6 and 3), working to a tension of about 5 stitches to the inch. I knitted 15 stitch squares and the ball measures about 9 cm / 31/2" across. It has about the same amount of twist as the DK balls but is a little denser. This is the ball on the left of the picture below.
Abbreviations
st / sts stitch / stitches K knit kf&b knit into the front and back of the stitch K2tog knit two stitches together sl 1 kwise slip one stitch knitwise psso pass slipped stitch over Frankie Brown, 2012. My patterns are for personal use only and should not be used to knit items for sale. Please do not use them for teaching purposes without my permission.
